“Cool” Japan's Economy Warms Up
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“Cool” Japan's Economy Warms Up March 2005 Economic Research Department Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) “Cool” Japan's Economy Warms Up Table of contents: McGray’s “Gross National Cool” ................................................................................................1 Japan’s Other Face .....................................................................................................2 ...................... Animation ..............................................................................................................................2 Publishing (Comics) .............................................................................................................3 Video Games ..........................................................................................................................3 Character Goods ...................................................................................................................4 Movies and TV Programs ...............................................................................4..................... Music and Entertainers ........................................................................................................5 Fashion ....................................................................................................................................6 Japanese Food .........................................................................................................................6 Patent Royalties and Other Intellectual Property Rights ..............................................7 ....... Other .........................................................................................................................................7 Japan’s Trendy Consumers .....................................................................................................7 .... Resurrection of the Japanese Economy ...........................................................................................10 Elimination of the “Three Excesses” ...................................................................................................11 Division of Production in East Asia .....................................................................................................13 .. Expanding Inward Investment .....................................................................................................14 ....... Table & Figures Table: Balance of Payments: Royalties and License Fees .............................................7 Fig.1. Real and Nominal GDP Growth Rates .............................................................10 ........ Fig.2. Corporate Goods and Consumer Price Indices ....................................................11 . Fig.3. Staffing Conditions D.I. ......................................................................11...................... Fig.4. Production Capacity D.I. ......................................................................12 ..................... Fig.5. Outstanding Interest-Bearing Debt Relative to Nominal GDP ............................12 Fig.6. Changes in Share of Imports from Major Countries/Regions ..............................13 Fig.7. Changes in Share of Exports to Major Countries/Regions ..................................13 Fig.8. Japan’s Inward and Outward Foreign Direct Investment .....................................15 “Cool” Japan's Economy Warms Up McGray’s “Gross National Cool” It has never been easy to live up to Socrates’ exhortation “Know thyself.” Sometimes we come to know ourselves less through our own efforts than through the actions of others. This is the situation in which Japan finds itself today. Following the collapse of the asset-inflated economic bubble at the early 1990s, Japan entered a long-term recession that caused many Japanese to lose self-confidence and do a great deal of soul searching. Not long ago, the American journalist Douglas McGray wrote: “Instead of collapsing beneath its widely reported political and economic misfortunes … from pop music to consumer electronics, architecture to fashion, and animation to cuisine, Japan looks more like a cultural superpower today than it did in the 1980s, when it was an economic one” (“Japan’s Gross National Cool,” Foreign Policy , May/June 2002). In a play on words, McGray suggested that during this time Japan became a major nation in terms of “gross national cool” (GNC), an index of cultural power, rather than in terms of gross national product (GNP), an index of economic power. This may have sounded a lot better to the angst-ridden Japanese than the reality warranted, but eventually even mainstream media in Europe and North America were reporting on the issue of “Japanese cool.” Le Monde carried an article titled “‘Cool Japan: le Japon superpuissance de la pop” on December 18, 2003, and the Washington Post printed an article entitled “Japan’s Empire of Cool”on December 27, 2003. The lively pictures they painted suggested that people outside—but not inside—Japan had come to know and appreciate the cultural assets that the nation was sitting on. Socrates would have been disappointed. What, exactly, is GNC? McGray sees it as a form of “soft power” (derived from the word software, but broadly referring to culture and intellectual property). The concept was first put forward by Professor Joseph S. Nye Jr. of Harvard to describe the power of one country to attract the people of other countries through its culture, its values, or its diplomatic policies. McGray was first alerted to this soft power by the tone adopted by newspaper reports on Japan. While the pessimistic articles about Japanese politics and economics filling the business sections preached the need for reform, he also found plenty of articles in the fashion and culture sections describing how Japan was giving birth to a variety of new trends in technology, art, and pop culture. The paradox was so extreme that he decided he would try to learn more about it. When McGray subsequently visited Japan, he saw this soft power wherever he went, and has since described his experiences in the above-mentioned article and elsewhere: • Japanese anime (animation) dominates Saturday morning television in the United States, Pokémon is broadcast in 65 countries around the world, and both manga (Japanese comic books) and anime have served as a source of inspiration for such Hollywood movies as The Matrix . • JPOP (Japanese pop music) has built up a broad base of fans centered on East Asia. • Japanese lifestyle magazines—available in their original, un-translated versions 1 only—hit the newsstands in places like Hong Kong, South Korea, and Taiwan within a few days of their release in Tokyo. East Asian teenagers hunger for the latest Tokyo fashions. The New York Times says that “Tokyo is the real international capital of fashion.” • Sushi is now available at ordinary supermarkets and ballparks in the United States, even though the Japanese long believed that such cuisine would never enjoy popularity overseas. Some of these phenomena retain their original, authentic essence overseas, while others do not. But the point is not if they are authentic, but if they are “cool.” Being cool turns people’s heads and attracts them, becoming more a form of power than a simple set of values. Japan’s Other Face If Japan is viewed through McGray’s eyes, it is certainly possible to see a very different face on a nation that suffered chronic economic stagnation for so long. From anime, video games, and character goods to fashion and music, the influence of Japan’s soft power is rippling around the world. Starting in Taiwan and spreading throughout East Asia, more and more young people have joined the so-called harizu or “Japanophile tribe” by mimicking Japanese fashion and enthusiastically following Japanese anime and dorama (TV dramas). Japanese manga and video games have spread across Europe and North America at a remarkable rate. Animation Japanese anime has held the number-one position in the world of animation for nearly two decades. Over 60% of the animated cartoons broadcast around the world are made in Japan. The Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) estimates that the U.S. market alone for Japanese anime is worth 4.35 billion dollars, which indicates the strength of its global presence. In fact, serious anime films like Gundam , AKIRA , and Ghost in the Shell , which captured the imaginations of youngsters around the world starting in the 1980s, probably formed the basis for the perception of a “cool Japan.” • In 2002, Spirited Away became the first anime feature film to win the Golden Bear award at the Berlin International Film Festival. It later took the Oscar for best animated feature film at the Academy Awards. • Japanese anime -style cartoons currently fill most of the weekday after-school timeslots and monopolize Saturday mornings on U.S. TV networks. • The Sailor Moon TV series for young girls debuted in 1991 and is now broadcast in 20 countries, has been translated into many languages, and boasts millions of fans around the world. • FOXBOX of the United States started broadcasting Kinnikuman Nisei ( Ultimate Muscle ) in September 2002. It has ranked among the top three most popular programs in its timeslot ever since. • TV films of Pokémon have been broadcast in 68 countries and feature films have been shown in 45 countries worldwide. • In 1995, the anime film Ghost in the Shell directed by Mamoru Oshii was number 2 one in U.S. nationwide video sales. Oshii’s